Sephora Friends & Family Sale 2011 – 20% Off!

Sephora Friends & Family Sale 2011 – 20% off

See — history repeats itself, no need to stress. Go enter your e-mail @ Sephora Friends & Family Sale to get your unique code to save 20%. The sale runs from October 20th, 2011 and run through November 2nd, 2011.

Not valid on previous purchases, Canadian online purchases, or gift certificates/cards

One promo code per email address, only five email addresses per computer

Can’t use with other promos

Fine print:

Offer valid 10/20/11 through 11/2/11 at 11:59 pm PST/PDT with any merchandise order on sephora.com. Online promo code cannot be used in retail stores or sephora inside jcpenney. Enter your unique promotion code during checkout to receive 20% off your entire online merchandise purchase. Promo code may be only be used once, is non-transferable, is not valid on previous purchases, on Canadian online purchases, nor with the purchase of eGift certificates or gift cards. Only one promo code per email address and only five email addresses per computer. Cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions/offers. Sephora reserves the right to end or change this promotion offer at any time. By providing your e-mail address, you agree to receive e-mail announcements in accordance with our privacy policy.

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In the past, Sephora has e-mailed a separate coupon to Canadian Beauty Insiders to use in store – they usually e-mail it sometime after the U.S. F&F sale. Last year my coupon arrived in my inbox around mid to late November.

Called Sephora and they told me that sale is only for the FRIENDS AND FAMILY and not for any VIB or BI customer .So if we know anyone in sephora we can get the code ……Not sure …how will we get the card from employees?

For me, it’s a perfect excuse to nab the Tarte’s True Blood and UD’s Naked palette at the same time (if it’s still available – UD sells out so fast at my Sephora). Probably going to splurge on some of Illumasquas lip products while I’m at it.

Urban Decay’s Mariposa palette and Electric 24/7 set, if they’re in stock, but I’m thinking it’s a bit of a stretch to hope that. Maybe I’ll magically have extra money and could afford some Illamasqua…

Of course I just placed an order last night that I don’t want to cancel, and I can’t afford to place another order so soon (or realistically for the rest of the year). But I do need to make another purchase to qualify for VIB…hmmm.

so excited! i haven’t bought anything from sephora for the few months waiting for this event!
can’t wait to pick up ysl parisienne purfume, too faced holiday set, makeup forever mat powder, the magnetic polish and at least couple UD and tarte sets as well as those amazing new bare escentuals ready shadows.

No exclusions, actually. It’s much better than ULTA’s “20% everything except stuff you actually want” sales. EVERYTHING is covered, including fancy stuff like the Clarisonic and TEMPTU, and even sale merchandise is covered.

I already saw a flier for the sale. We have to purchase through sephora.com/friends, and can only place ONE order which sucks. They aren’t doing a code (ie. ff2011) like usual, which enabled people to use it multiple time and place multiple orders.

OMG awesome!!! I was gonna run out and buy some stuff but now i’m waiting
I MUST get the MUFE Fluo night. It looks amazing.
I also want to try the Illamasqua cream pigment in that minty color! It’s sooo pretty, I swatched it in the store

it’s a sale that most retail establishments have either once or a couple of times throughout the year in which they extend the discount they usually give to their employees (and their friends/family) to us (the regular customers).

Yay, finally!!! I’m so excited!! Also, have you heard anything about when the final Urban Decay Anniversary item will be released, or what it is? They haven’t given us any sneaks or clues on Facebook yet.

OH MY GOD:
I have never been to USA and now I’ll go there in 20nd!!!!!!!!!!!! There’s no Sephora in Finland and I’m propably going to spend like 500 dollars there.
I’m dying of happiness right now T___T

Wow…I am so happy! This just happens to be the time that I will be in Anaheim on vacation. I love stocking up at Sephora when I’m in the States (I’m from Canada) due to the mark-ups that we have here. The 20% off is now the icing on the cake!

My Sephora jusr told me this last weekend too! I’m so exicited! Now I can finally stock up on my eye creams and face creams and possibly foundations I love, Omgosh I’m gonna go crazy, this is like Christmas for me!

Christine, I do have a question though. I called my local sephoras and they don’t have their confirmation email yet but, for the f+f sale is it online only? or is it online and instore? Also, does it work for skincare items like ole henriksen eyecreams?

It works for all products on the site (according to an employee but Sephora may apply restrictions at a manufacturer’s request). Based on a discussion on Musings of a Muse blog, “to redeem in store you HAVE to have the F&F card physically, no print outs or copies will be accepted) and picture id is required to redeem in store as stated in fine print). For online purchases, you have to go to sephora.com/friends to receive a unique one time use promo code. and it’s a ONE time use only”

I’m so excited about this and have been making my wishlist for a while now. I’m not exactly sure what to get yet, but I know it’ll be a lot of Illamasqua and MUFE. I may get at least 6 Illamasqua nail polishes…yay!

Lol, I’ve been thinking about this and making a shopping list in my cart since late September. Also pretty sure that this purchase will requalify me for V.I.B. again…not that I was doing this on purpose! If only Sephora carried MAC, my list would be twice as long!!

OH, and last year, didn’t they empty all of the carts on the night before the sale? I think I remember that…
So I’d make a separate list just to be sure you don’t miss anything!
(I printed out my cart so I’d have a copy if they dump ‘em)

* Offer valid 10/20/11 through 11/2/11 at 11:59 pm PST/PDT with any merchandise order on sephora.com. Online promo code cannot be used in retail stores or sephora inside jcpenney. Enter your unique promotion code during checkout to receive 20% off your entire online merchandise purchase. Promo code may be only be used once, is non-transferable, is not valid on previous purchases, on Canadian online purchases, nor with the purchase of eGift certificates or gift cards. Only one promo code per email address and only five email addresses per computer. Cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions/offers. Sephora reserves the right to end or change this promotion offer at any time. By providing your e-mail address, you agree to receive e-mail announcements in accordance with our privacy policy.

Sephora needs to get their information straight and consistent across the board. When I called their toll free number, they told me the sale was open to ALL customers. Now when I call the Yorkdale store in Toronto, they said it is only open to friends/family of their employees and that you MUST have a card/coupon to present at the time of purchase.

Not sure if they’ve changed the rules since last year: Sephora hands out post cards to their employees to send out to their friends and family for in-store discount. The 20% promo code for online was usually open to all customers. But I’ve never had to enter my email to get a code before, so maybe they did changed the friends and family sale policy this year.

Thanks a lot for the updates, Christine. I am working on my list (in spreadsheet form, with calculations!) during my lunch break today and I see they keep adding all these new items so I am trying to whittle it down. I plan on getting some Perricone MD skincare items, the new Kat Von D eyeshadow palletes, some Fresh soaps, and some other items..going to be a big purchase but it’s stuff I’m going to buy sooner or later so I might as well get them on sale!

So I just read on Messy Wands blog that this Friends & Family deal is totally different from a Beauty Insider/VIB sale they usually have around this time of year. According to the person she links from, this sale is limited to actual friends and family of Sephora employees – NOT to Sephora Beauty Insiders. Anyway one else hearing anything like this? (I know you don’t have any more info at this time Christine so I’m not bugging you with this question!)

I spoke with a Sephora manager last week. She stated that the friends & family is different from the VIB sale. The F&F sale is typically limited to F&F of sephore employees but the VIB sale beginning mid November will be for about 2 weeks and extended to all VIB members. So if you don’t get everything during F&F and are a VIB you will have an opportunity a week or so later to buy more.

Yes, that’s what I found out too. While the people at the Sephora toll free number said the sale is open to everyone, when I called a Sephora store they said that you actually have to be a friend/family of an employee to get the sale. This is different from their annual VIB/Beauty Insider sale which takes place in December.

I’ve been reading similar rumors on the Sephora FB fan page and on musingsofamuse.com. So confused! I called my local Sephora to see if they were doing a promotional party or anything tomorrow night (I went to something like that last year but I’m not sure if that was considered F&F or BI/VIB discount) but they told me that they weren’t having any promotional parties, just to show up with my discount card. But I didn’t get one in the mail so I’m kind of thinking that means I will not get one in my email tonight…

That’s so annoying! Last year anyone could use a Friends and Family code online and all Beauty Insiders got a postcard that could be used in stores. It was definitely called the Friends and Family sale.

Sephora is so close to losing my business altogether, as other sites have sales on similar products AND offer great gift with purchases (not just one little sample if you spend $100)

The reason they probably changed the rules this year is because everyone was abusing the friends and family discount last year. Are you a friend of someone who works for sephora? No? Then why would you feel entitled to use the friends and family discount? And there’s no way you received a friends and family postcard in the mail last year. I can guarantee you are mistaken.

The term “friend” is used loosely. In college, there was a girl who worked at Gap in my dorm. I never hung out with her but we were friendly. I’d call her more of an acquaintance, but when she had friends and family cards to give out, she gave one to me, despite the fact that I didn’t have her cell phone number and we didn’t hang out outside of the dorms.

When stores do friends and family sales, they give the employees coupons to give to people at their discretion. There’s no rule about how well you have to know someone in order to be considered a “friend”. As such, it makes sense that every customer should be considered friend/family of the store because if they actively patronize the store and know about the sale. They are a “friend” of the store in the sense that they’re a repeat customer and not a casual customer who only shops their once in their lives.

I don’t know why you think that only people who actually know sephora employees should be entitled to a sale. If you are really friends/family with an employee, chances are they will buy you whatever you’d like whenever you’d like using their employee discount. Although they call them Friends and Family Sales, they’re really more like customer loyalty sales.

I think the reason sephora changed the rules for their FFS is because from their standpoint, they’d rather have people consolidate their orders instead of making lots of small orders which will put more strain on the people who have to process orders, and it costs more money to ship out lots of little packages as opposed to fewer but larger packages. It’s okay, because if there’s anything you forgot to buy, you can always wait for the VIB sale which will come up in another month, and if they might even send out another $25 coupon after the VIB sale if they repeat last year’s promotions model.

If everyone who shopped at Sephora was a “friend”, then they would just have a storewide sale. But they didn’t. So that means that only those who were given a friends and family coupon are entitled to a sale. And at most stores, you can get fired for letting someone use your discount, so no, they probably don’t buy stuff for their friends and family with their discount. Hence the friends and family sale.

Note that you can only have 60 items in your cart when you check out – if the code is one-time use, this will limit how many things you can buy with the discount. Pick the most expensive things you are thinking of, not a bunch of smaller cost items for the most savings.

I called the VIB Sephora hotline
This sale is ONLY for literal Friends and Family of Sephora employees. You must get your promo code from a Sephora employee and those employees are ONLY supposed to give them out to people they know… aka friends & family. That’s why we all haven’t received flyers, mailers and email blasts like we always do during Sephora sales.

i was a little confused about who the sale applied to, since i never recalled receiving any emails or info about a friends/family sale…so i just called the sephora vib hotline – it only applies to friends and family of sephora employees. i’m based in the US, fwiw.

after all these years of shopping at sephora, i should’ve made a friend or two at the stores!! ah well, i’ll wait for the next promotion

Hey Christine.. uhmmm I work at sephora.. and actually this year they’re doing it kind of differently.. you have to have an official sephora employee give you a coupon… also.. i think you can get the fnf online if you go to sephora.com/friends but I think you need to put certain information there tooo… I asked my boss and she said it was for only friends and family of sephora cast members.. so yea.

I called two sephora stores here in Chicago and both stores told me that the employees were given an allotted amount of F&F cards to hand out to their friends to use, and they were not sure if this sale was open to VIBs or BIs. They said to keep an eye on email.

If you look at Sephora’s facebook page, it’s a hot mess of rumors and angry people, and then some really mature individuals who like to mock everyone. Yikes!! I am really excited for the sale and am hoping it is open to everyone or at least VIBs/BIs, but also realize that essentially they can format it however they would like, it’s THEIR sale…I am keeping my list on the ready, just in case, fingers crossed!!

It can’t be used in stores? Great, my local store stocks my favorite perfume, Hermes Eau des Merveilles, but no Hermes is offered on the website. Would have sure liked a discount on that, guess I will buy it from a discounter.

And mysteriously all NARS cream blushes have disappeared from the website! I really wanted to restock my Penny Lane during FF, but if it is not offered on the website and if you cannot redeem the discount in stores, then I guess I will have to wait until the NARS website does a sale (which they seem to do quite often) to restock.

With this sale being a “true” friends and family sale, they should have handed out the cards and given out the codes to employees without making a whole new website to rub it in the faces who spend a lot of money there. Hopefully what I heard is wrong because the fine print doesn’t say “must be a friend or family member” or anything like that. We all have the people on Ebay who sell things 3x the retail price to thank for this. I’m super bummed but I’m going to give in soon to get a few holiday sets before they vanish.

You know what — I feel so dumb for posting that last comment (above). I think the code from last year was meant for friends and family, but went “viral” all over and everyone used it. Now I feel all greedy and dumb. Either I get to use it or I don’t. Ok I’m done beating myself up! (Goes off to make wishlist)

I know Christine doesn’t know much but anyone who received the promo code last year, how did you get it? Do you just sign up for a beauty insider card on the website or do you need to know someone in the store?

I guess that’s $350 that they will not get since I am not personally a friend or family member of someone who works for Sephora. I know I am one person, but I have been saving up for this sale. Last year’s sale was called Friends and Family too, and everyone got to use the discount code. It’s just very disappointing. I know they have the right to change the terms at any time. I just got my Ulta 20% off card in the mail. Guess I will be going there instead. But it can’t be used for fragrance and that was what I really wanted.

I got my Ulta card too! Bummer that Sephora is doing this if they really are I saved up a ton to spend on MUFE and Nars ever since I heard they had an F&F sale. I am already sick and tired of sephora’s bad CS at my store/slow shipping online. Even though they have no obligation to have an F&F open to the public it shows how muc hthey really value us :/ Bad move sephora…really bad. Urban decay love’s their customers more

Guys seriously, it’s called a friends and family sale. You know, for friends and family. If you used it last year and you’re not a friend or family, you did so unethically. And Sephora does a Beauty Insider sale every year before the holidays, and it’s 20% off, so you guys should seriously just relax! Just wait a few more weeks and you’ll get the same discount. There’s no reason to get worked up over this, you shouldn’t feel entitled to take advantage of a company’s private sale for their family.

FF online was never for just literal friends and family – in-store had previously been restricted, but Sephora sent postcards, emails, and even distributed the code through their affiliate channels. Just FYI!

If I remember correctly from last year, the friends and family sale (when employees give out cards) happens before the VIB/BI sale. They might be called the same thing but I believe they occur at slightly different times. I’m sure there will be a sale for VIBs and BIs, as Sephora always does this a few times a year. Don’t panic everyone, you may just have to wait a week!